A very quick note before bed, since I am exhausted after having gotten a cumulative sum of ~5 hours of sleep since leaving Seattle(!). I felt so spent last night, but still woke up wide awake at 3:30 AM (not time to wake up in PST, either, so who knows??). I had a Snickers in bed, finished my book, and watched the early light change the shadows that my mosquito net made. Eventually I got up and saw my first glimpse of daylight Zim. After breakfast (and after watching an mbira be made, the first bit of a Zim wedding video, and after the first nap of the day), Joseph and I squeezed ourselves into a kombi (blaring jangly Afropop and retrofitted to seat 22) and headed toward downtown. Talk about an assault on the senses! For a mere 5 rand (50 cents), we were treated to a symphony (cacophony?) of sights, sounds, and smells. The meandering kombi (changing route to avoid police looking for bribes or to let off passengers, stopping for gas and to put air in the tires) finally arrived in Market Square in Harare. We ran a couple of errands (J's bank draft, me getting a new SIM card, called a "Buddie", so I can communicate with the folks back home). The computers were down at the telephone place, so we went to the flea market, where we wandered around lookin for a few odd things (sunglasses, a bag, a head scarf). We found none of these, but Joseph did find a man selling CDs. He told the guy he wanted to buy CDs of the strangest Zimbabwean music he had. The first 3 CDs the seller put in were mbira music! (And Joseph knew th names of all the artists!)
After these adventures, we were tired and it was dark, so we took a taxi back to Budiriro. There was no magetsi (electricity), so we had (a delicious!) dinner by lantern of sadza, beef, and lots of vegetables (more greenery than I was expecting, to be honest). The magetsi came back on just as I was headed to bed, which was good since I had to pack for Caution's. It was a real feat to get what I needed into my small suitcase -- needed since we may be coming back by kombi (though getting a private ride for $30 seems a whole lot more appealing, I think). More from Caution's village tomorrow!
